Music From
Japan celebrated its 30th anniversary season (2004-2005) by presenting
acclaimed ensemble Reigakusha on tour in the United States and in Fukushima,
Japan. For the occasion Reigakusha performed pieces from the traditional
gagaku repertoire, as well as world premeries of MFJ-commissioned
works by Keiko Fujiie and Kazuo Kikkawa to commerorate the anniversary.
The program also featured contemporary reigaku works composed for
modern replicas of musical instruments from the eighth-century Shoso-in
collection housed in Todaiji monastery-temple complex in Nara, Japan.

The season
opened at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall on September 8th, 2004 with the program
"Reigaku and Gagaku: A Living Tradition." A second version of
the program, including traditional bugakui (gagaku dance), was
presented in Washington, DC on September 9th at the Terrace Theater at
the Kennedy Center as part of its Prelude Festival. On September 12th,
Reigakusha made its final US tour appearance at Hertz Hall on the campus
of UC Berkeley, presented by Cal Performances. The 30th anniversary season
concluded with events at the fukushima Ongakudo in Fukushima, Japan on
December 4th and 5th.

Audiences
at the New York and Berkeley concerts were treated to a lecture-demonstration
by distinguished speaker Toshiro Kido, fromer Director of the National
Theater of Japan, with the cooperation of members of Reigakusha.that preceded
the concerts. Kido was introduced by Professor Bonnie Wade at UC Berkeley
and the event was cosponsored by the Music Department and the Institute
of East Asian Studies. In Washington, DC, a separate lecture-demonstration
was given on September 10th at the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution.